The Vampire Awakens
by ThuribleOD
Summary: The cast of Dracula returns for new adventures twenty years later. Guest starring the plot of J. J. Abram's 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
1. Opening Crawl

Dr. Seward has vanished.

In his absence, the sinister ORDER OF THE DRAGON has risen from the chaos of the Great War and will not rest until DRACULA, the last vampire, is restored to un-death. With support of LORD GODALMING, Mina Harker leads the brave WESTENRA CIRCLE. She is desperate to find her old friend and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to Europe.

Mina has sent her most daring agent on a secret mission to Frisia, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Dr. Seward's whereabouts...


	2. Chapter 1

In the cold, starlit seas off the coast of Frisia, a Bayern-class battleship with no flag is sailing for Dokkum. Beneath its decks, hundreds of black-clad soldiers with dragon-head insignias clutch their rifles in anticipation of what they know is coming. They've heard the whispers. They know their prize.

"Dr. Van Helsing."

Dorian Poe, a handsome, dark-haired in his early thirties, bows slightly to the old Dutch gentleman. Dr. Van Helsing smiles back at him and waves his hand in protest.

"There is no need for such formality, friend Dorian," says Dr. Van Helsing, gesturing to a round wooden table by the window of the small cottage, "Sit, and let me show you what I have found."

Poe smiles to himself as he watches the old man hobble to a seat, assisted by an elegant cane.

"Sit, sit," insists Dr. Van Helsing, "And I will show you."

As Dorian Poe slowly takes his chair, a small beagle scampers through the front door of the cottage. Poe jumps slightly at the sudden sound of its jingling collar, but relaxes at once.

"Ah, that is only Bede," says Dr. Van Helsing, "A companion of mine in my old age. Named for Bede the Venerable, one of your countrymen, and a fellow disciple of antiquarian knowledge."

Doriean Poe reaches down to scratch the brown-and-white patterned hound as Van Helsing produces a tiny, ornate box and places it reverently on the table before them.

"This, I think, will begin to make things right, friend Dorian," says Dr. Van Helsing, "I have seen too much in my life, but what Europe needs now —what the world needs now —is hope, and not despair."

Poe picks up the box carefully and examines it, before putting it unceremoniously into the bag that hangs at his waist.

"Well, Dr. Van Helsing, because of this, we may have a chance. Mrs. Harker has been looking for this for a long time."

"Mrs. Harker," says the old man, with a far-away look in his wrinkled eyes, "To me, she is always dear Madam Mina."

"Well, she is that, too," says Dorian Poe warmly.

Suddenly, they both hear a distant sound —a deep explosion, and the whistling of something traveling fast through the air. Then, the impact —a terrible crashing of brick and stone, not more than a hundred yards from them. Dorian Poe springs to his feet as the beagle begins to bark in agitation.

"It seems we have company," says Dorian Poe, forcing a calm he did not feel, "Dr. Van Helsing, you need to hide."

"You need to leave, friend Dorian," says the old doctor, climbing slowly to his feet as the sound of another cannon blast is heard in the distance, "Take with you only my love to Madam Mina, and that box. All depends on it."

Dorian Poe nods, and without a word, he departs at a run through the door of a cottage, followed —though he does not know it —by the Professor's spotted hound.


	3. Chapter 2

As the guns of the battleship _Todesfall_ roar in the distance behind them, the masked soldiers of the Order of the Dragon approach the Dutch city of Dokkum, rifles in hand. They expect resistance. Dokkum has long been home to Professor Abraham van Helsing, master vampire hunter. The people of Dokkum revere him, and will defend him with their lives.

The Order's shock troops open fire long before they reach the moat, spraying the houses and streets of the old Dutch town indiscriminately. Their orders are simple: capture Van Helsing. Leave no other survivors.

A few townspeople fire back with hunting rifles and throw rocks from the town's fortifications, but they quickly fall before the merciless discipline of the Order of the Dragon. All around them, the town is falling into ruins—destroyed by the guns of the super-dreadnaught lurking just off the coast. The invades have brought flamethrowers and grenades to finish what their guns cannot.

With the town in flames apart around behind him, Dorian Poe makes his way southward to the field where he landed his Sopwith. In his right hand, he grips his pistol. He has faced the Order of the Dragon before, and lived, but his duty to Mina Harker and his regard for the kind old man now place him at a crossroads. He stops and ducks into a hedge as another shell shatters the steeple of the town church. He notices, for the first time, that Dr. Van Helsing's dog is following him. Poe smiles and scoops the dog into his arms. With a sudden determination, he reaches for the pouch on his waist that holds the tiny wooden box that Van Helsing gave to him. He rips it from his belt and ties the leather strings instead to the collar of the hound.

"Here," he says to the dog, "Take this, keep it safe. I'll be back for it."

The dog whines as Poe starts back in the direction of Van Helsing's cottage.

"Stay there," says Dorian Poe, firmly, "I'll come back for you. I promise."

He takes the safety cache off his pistol and nearly sprints back through the streets of Dokkum, his eyes darting around in search of masked Order soldiers. He sees nothing but panicking locals, either fleeing for their lives or frantically locking their doors.


	4. Chapter 3

Dr. Abraham Van Helsing comes willingly when the masked and black-coated soldiers arrive at the door of his cottage. He hobbles out to them with a cheerful determination, but is aghast to see the damage they have worked on his hometown of ten years in just a few minutes.

"We have Van Helsing," says one of the masked soldiers, pointing at the old man with his bayonet, "Send for Lord Dracul."

Dr. Van Helsing waits patiently as one of his captures rushes into the darkness. When he returns, he brings with him Captain Geist, the leader of the Order's shock troops, and Lord Dracul himself. Dracul recognizes the old man at once.

"You've become so old, Dr. Van Helsing," says Dracul.

He wears a steel mask forged in the visage of a hungry wolf, and a black cape lined with dark red velvet. At his side hangs a longsword of cruel and ancient make.

"There are worse things that can happen to a man," says Dr. Van Helsing, sternly.

"You know why I have come here," says Dracul, cold malice in his voice.

"I remember well where you have come from," says the old man, "Before you took on the name Filius Dracul."

"You know where I can find Dr. Seward," says Dracul, "And you are going to tell everything you know to the Order of the Dragon."

"The Order of the Dragon were born in darkness," says Dr. Van Helsing, "But you were not."

"I'll show you darkness," says Dracul icily.

"You may work evil in their name," says Van Helsing, straightening his shoulders in defiance, "But I know what your true family is, and I—"

"As do I!" bellows the masked Dracul, and with a motion swift and brutal, he strikes down Dr. Van Helsing, bathing his longsword in the doctor's blood. The old man collapses to the ground, dead.

_Ping!_

A bullet glances off the wolf mask of Lord Dracul.

As another bullet wizzes past his shoulder, he turns to see Dorian Poe, pistol in hand. Captain Geist lifts her MP 18 to fire back, but Lord Dracul raises a hand. He has fixed Poe with an unseen stare, and Poe finds himself overcome by dread. He cannot move—he cannot even think. A pair of Order soldiers seize him by each arm and drag him before Dracul, who looks at his prisoner curiously from behind his mask.

For a moment, neither man says anything.

"So you're Filius Dracul," begins Dorian Poe, sneering contemptuously at his captor, "Am I supposed to talk to—"

"Dr. Van Helsing," says Dracul, "He gave you the box."

"Sorry," says Poe, ignoring Dracul's words, "I just can't take it seriously, that—"

He reaches towards Dracul's steel mask, but is instantly thrown to the ground by the soldiers on either side of him.

"Search this fool," says Dracul, turning away to look at the dead body of Dr. Van Helsing, "Then take him back to the ship. We're leaving."

"And the villagers?" asks Captain Geist.

A few paces from them, her soldiers have rounded up a dozen or so, all unarmed and trembling in the cold night air.

"Kill them," says Dracul, after a pause.

The villagers begin to plead as Geist's soldiers take aim.

"Fire," says Geist.

Her soldiers fire a volley at the panicking villagers. Some attempt to flee, but are cut down. As the masked soldiers begin firing at will, the cries for mercy eventually fall to silence.

"Back to the ship," says Geist, curtly.

As the soldiers of the Order of the Dragon fall in behind their captain, one of them pauses for a moment to look around at the slaughter they have inflicted on the small Dutch town. Of all the faceless soldiers of the Order, he alone did not fire his weapon.

Captain Geist notices his hesitation. She calls him to attention—not by the name he has never known, but by his number—and commands him to fall in.

"When we return to the ship, submit your rifle for inspection," says Geist.

"Yes, captain," replies the soldier.

He does his best to conceal the tremor in his voice, and to ignore the feeling of cold dread sweeping over him, as he follows the others back to the _Todesfall_.


End file.
